Obedience September 1
We recognize the authority of the Church and our obligation to observe pertinent ecclesiastical regulations, and so explicit references to Church laws have been omitted as a matter of principle (Const. 0.5).
From the moment Saul fell from his horse, it was impossible for him to deny that Christ cannot be separated from his Christians. “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Ac 9:4). Jesus had already alluded to this reality in his prayer: “that they may be one as we are one, I in them and you in me” (Jn 17:22-23). The community has become the spouse of Christ. “Come, I will show you the spouse, the bride of the Lamb” (Rv 21:9). To be a Christian, then, means to be in communion with the Church. Obedience to Christ implies obedience to the Church because there is only one plan of salvation and one Spirit that guides it. The discipline of the Church, codified in Canon Law, organizes her life in light of her mission as the sacrament of salvation. As parts of the Church and participants in its mission, religious communities submit to the law of the Church. Their proper Constitutions are in accord with ecclesiastical law as a sign of this communion. Even if religious life finds it necessary to be prophetic to the Church, it is always out of love for her and never despite her. The prophet gives radical obedience to the demands of the Kingdom and calls the Church to imitate this profound fidelity.
The teeth surround the tongue. (Duala)
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